Introduction


IP Addressing Fundamentals is designed to explain how the IP address space works and how it is used. Many books help you gain a working knowledge of this topic, but none can help you both appreciate the why behind the theory and the how behind the application. My goal is to do both with this book.

The inspiration for this book came as a result of my teaching experiences at Syracuse University. I'm an adjunct professor in SU's School of Information Studies and Technology, where I teach a pair of graduate courses on telecommunications and data networking. Despite the advanced nature of these courses, and the talented students who are attracted to them, I found myself continuously astounded at the limits of their working knowledge of important topics such as IP addressing. After two years of correcting misperceptions, asking students where they picked up their misinformation, and trying to show them a better way to understand the Internet's address space and technologies, I found myself getting frustrated. Just when I started thinking that maybe teaching wasn't such a good idea, I had a pair of experiences that erased my doubts and replaced them with inspiration.

One particularly bright young man explained to me that learning about IP was a lot like trying to piece together a jigsaw puzzle. The only differences were that you didn't know what the puzzle was supposed to look like when it was finished, nor did you have the benefit of a picture fragment on each piece. He appreciated my approach to teaching IP and networking, because I gave them the "big picture," broke it down into subtopics that were easier to grasp, and then correlated those subtopics back to the big picture. A healthy dose of reality, in the form of examining the practical uses and impacts of each subject, was also injected into each class. In the end, he said he not only understood the topic, but also appreciated both its mechanics and relevance.

The other experience occurred in the same semester. One night before class, a student approached me with a new book in his hands. You could tell it was a new book, even from a distance: that shiny, unmarred cover; the smell of fresh ink; the uncracked spinea thing of beauty! But the look on his face was one of disappointment and anxiety. The book was written by a luminary in the Interneta founding father who has written countless RFCs and has been instrumental in guiding the Internet's growth and development. Yet my student said the book was disappointing. I suggested that the book should be technically solid given the achievements of its author. He simply replied that it would be a great book if he could understand it! Instead of educating and informing the reader, this book caused anxiety and self-doubt. My student was asking my advice on whether he was smart enough to succeed in this industry. Of course he was, I assured him. It was the book and its author who had failed.

These two events crystallized in my mind the need for this book. I called John Kane, Editor-in-Chief at Cisco Press. We had a long chat about the need for a reader-friendly book that explains the fundamentals of the IP address space from the ground up. A book that unravels the mysteries of subnetting, supernetting, and CIDR. A book that thoroughly explains the binary mathematics of IPv4's addressing space and shows the reader how an IP address becomes an active component in both networks and internetworks. A book that prepares you for success by walking you through some of the issues and traps that lie in wait for anyone daring to either plan or manage the use of an IP address space. Most important of all, a book that doesn't presume that you already know what the puzzle should look like when it is completed. Thankfully, John and the folks at Cisco Press agreed. I hope you enjoy it!




IP Addressing Fundamentals
IP Addressing Fundamentals
ISBN: 1587050676
EAN: 2147483647
Year: 2002
Pages: 118
Authors: Mark Sportack

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